This week on the kids summer school at the French Centre, we made gingerbread, shaped into men, women, butterflies, stars, etc. The ingredients are: • 350g plain flour, plus extra for rolling out • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda • 2 tsp ground ginger • 1 tsp ground cinnamon • 125g butter • 175glight soft brown sugar • 1 free-range egg • 4 tbsp golden syrup The ginger has been somewhat elusive this week. When I find some, Ill put the details on the Cooking in Laos page. Golden syrup is now easily available. I found it in Si Muang (but with a maple syrup flavour) and in Phimphone (regular). Start by putting the flour, spices and bicarbonate of soda into a sieve and shaking it into a bowl. Once it is mixed, chop up the butter and mix it in until it looks like breadcrumbs. Then stir in the sugar. In a separate bowl, break the egg and whisk it till its all one colour. Add four tablespoons of golden syrup and stir these together until well mixed. Pour into the large bowl and mix everything together until it forms a dough (you may need to use your hands at the end). Put the dough in a plastic bag and put in the fridge for about half an hour (I wrap it in paper and put it in the freezer for around 10 minutes if Im pushed for time). Once the dough is cool and less sticky, take it out and squash it or roll it (with plenty of flour) into a something between 5mm - for crunchy biscuits, to 15mm for softer biscuits and use a cookie cutter to make your biscuits. Put them on a tray that has been oiled (I use spray oil that is now available here) and floured. Make sure you space them out as they will grow when they are cooking. Put them in a pre-heated oven (around 180 degrees or not quite all the way to the hottest option if using a local oven) for around 10 minutes. Watch them well to make sure they dont burn! Once they are cool, you can ice them if you want. We used icing sugar, a drop of drinking water and colours to ice our butterflies.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 02:26:31 +0000
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